Hero conference seeks home in Brighton

A two-day conference focusing on heroism could bring hundreds of visitors — and their spending dollars — to Brighton in September.

Matt Langdon of Australia, founder and board chairman of The Hero Construction Co., is spending this week in Brighton trying to drum up financial support and sponsorships to make it happen.

Langdon lived in Brighton for four years and said he wants the city to become the “tent pole” of the Hero Round Table, an annual conference that features speakers from across the globe and workshops on the topic of heroism.

The first two U.S. conferences were held in Genesee County. Last year’s Hero Round Table drew 800 people to Flint.

The event would be held Sept. 18-19 at 2/42 Community Church in Genoa Township, but speakers and attendees would stay in local hotels and dine, shop and eat in downtown Brighton, Langdon told a small gathering of businesspeople and professionals Monday at the Greater Brighton Area Chamber of Commerce.

“I want them to come downtown and see what Brighton has to offer,” he said.

The four years he lived in Brighton before moving his family to his native Australia convinced Langdon that Brighton is the ideal place to anchor the annual conference.

“We just think Brighton is such a good example of what an American community can be. It’s got everything we need, whether that’s amazing restaurants or vendors that can provide everything we need.”

To bring the conference to Brighton, Langdon is seeking two or three major partners to provide financial support as well as other local businesses that will receive tickets and exposure based on three sponsorship levels: Platinum ($2,000), Gold ($1,000) and Silver ($500). He is looking for commitments by July 1.

Interested sponsors can call Langdon at 810-689-4376 or email him at contact@heroroundtable.com.

Langdon has been speaking and doing training with the Hero Construction Co. for about eight years. He said most people have the wrong impression about what a hero is.

“The opposite of a hero is not a villain; it’s a bystander,” he said. “When someone says something wrong, a hero does something about it instead of doing nothing about it. … Whether it’s getting kids to stand up to bullies in school — because 98 percent of them don’t — or people in workplaces or in the community walking down the street, we want people to choose to take action rather than inaction.”

Speakers at last year’s Hero Round Table in Flint included Daniel Ellsberg, who publicly released the Pentagon Papers in 1971 that altered the course of the Vietnam War, and Edith Eger, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp during World War II.

More than a dozen speakers are scheduled to attend this year’s conference. They include Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee who blew the whistle on human trafficking in Bosnia, and 12-year-old Vivienne Harr, a global youth ambassador for the Dalai Lama.

Langdon said attendees will leave the conference inspired, knowing anyone can do something to change the world.

“After the conferences, we’ve had groups go back to their schools and start hero clubs, we’ve had groups go back to their businesses and start hero clubs,” he said.

Pam McConeghy, president and CEO of the Greater Brighton Area Chamber of Commerce, said the conference would be a great benefit to the city.

“The intention is that we are going to bring all these people to Brighton, and hopefully they’ll buy goods, stay in the hotels, eat in the restaurants,” she said. “It’s just a great opportunity for Brighton to get these people from all over the world.”